Apple: New Multitouch Gesture Not for Public Consumption

Those looking forward to the new multi-touch gestures in the forthcoming iOS 4.3 for the iPad are in for a disappointment. In the release notes of the latest version, iOS 4.3 beta 2, Apple has made clear that the four and five-finger gestures that appeared in the first beta are merely for testing purposes. They won’t make it into the final version.

This beta release contains a preview of new multitasking gestures for iPad. You can use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen, swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar, and swipe left or right between apps. This feature will not be enabled in iOS 4.3 for customers, but we are providing this preview to gather input on how these gestures work with your apps

This is a crying shame, as these cool-looking gestures were the one thing I was looking forward to in iOS 4.3. The other new features – streaming video from third party apps to AppleTV and iAd full-screen banners are fine, but they won’t improve everyday iPad usage. Still, the wording makes it sound like we may still get it in a future release.